Acireale
Acireale is a city in the Province of Catania in the autonomous region of Sicily in Italy with 51 402 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012).
Location and data
Acireale is located 20 km north of Catania, there are jobs in the production of food, tourism and quarries.
Acireale has a freeway connection to the A18 / E45. The Acireale train station is on the railway line Messina - Siracusa.
The districts are Santa Maria La Scala, Santa Tecla, stazzo, SMAmmalati, Guardia Mangano, Capomulini, S.Cosmo, Balatelle, Pennisi, Fiandaca, Loreto, Piano d' Api, Aciplatani, Scillichenti, S. Caterina, SMdelle grace, SMLa Stella and SGBosco.
The neighboring municipalities are Aci Castello, Aci Catena, Aci Sant'Antonio, Giarre Riposto, Santa Venerina and Zafferana Etnea.
History
The municipality was created in the 14th century by the influx of residents from coastal areas, as the location of the place offered better protection against pirate raids. In the area of the present city was founded in 731 BC Greek city Xiphonia. The name Acireale was awarded in 1642 by King Philip IV of Spain. In the 1693 earthquake, the city was destroyed and then rebuilt. In the first decades of the 20th century, the city grew rapidly.
Culture
Acireale is considered next Sciacca than the carnival stronghold of Sicily and the cradle of Sicilian puppet theater.
Structures
- Church of San Sebastiano, built in the second half of the 17th century
- Cathedral of Maria SS Annunziata, built 1597-1618, is a baroque façade and a Gothic facade
- Town Hall, built in 1659 in baroque style
- Church of Santi Pietro e Paolo with a colonnaded façade from the 18th century
- Pinacoteca Zelantea, with ancient writings and paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries
- Spa, built in the 19th century
- Museum with dolls of the Sicilian puppet theater
Environment
- San Giovanni Montebello, a small village, 4 km from Acireale. Here is the church of SS Ritrovato with two paintings from 1833, the Annunciation and the Crucifixion. The paintings are by Giuseppe Zacco.
- Macchia, about 2 kilometers from Acireale. Here is the Museum of Ätnabevölkerung.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Giacinto Platania (1612-1691), painter
- Pietro Paolo Vasta (1697-1760), Baroque painter
- Umberto Barbaro (1902-1959), film theorist and - critic, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker
- Francesco Pennisi (1934-2000), composer
- Gaetano Fichera (1922-1996), mathematician
- Pio Vittorio Vigo ( b. 1935 ), Bishop of Acireale
- Paolo Romeo ( b. 1938 ), Archbishop of Palermo
- Paolo Urso ( born 1940 ), Bishop of Ragusa
Twinning
- Mar del Plata, Argentina, since December 7, 1996